Fairy Tale
by atrfla
Summary: Earth's run out of Disney magic! By sending the princesses in one by one, Lady Minnie's harebrained scheme to save her fiefdom might just work- that is, if King Disney doesn't keep getting in the way. (Also, Merida is a Pixar princess, but she comes in later in the story. Don't worry!)
1. Prologue: Magic

Prologue: Magic

"King Disney!"

Walt Disney turned to see a herald barreling toward him.

"King Disney!" he panted, kneeling down and making the Disney salute- two hands balled into fists, one on either side of the head- Mickey ears. "I bring important news from Lady Minnie!" He scrambled to his feet.

"Lady Minnie?" said Walt curiously. "Pray, tell."

"It is in holo-form," the herald said breathlessly. "Shall I?"

"Of course," Walt said.

The herald flipped open a small metal ball covered in gears with two gears that stuck up to form Mickey ears. He punched a few buttons and watched in satisfaction as a life-sized blue Minnie hologram flickered to life in front of Walt.

"King Disney," the hologram said, making the Disney salute. "We are in a dire situation."

"Is this a live hologram or a pre-recorded one?" asked Walt out of the corner of this mouth.

"Live, Your Majesty," the herald whispered.

"Lady Minnie." Walt nodded serenely at the hologram. "have the Pixars attacked yet?"

"It is not _this _world in a dire situation. Your world- Earth- is in need of our magic. The Earth-children love us, King Disney," the Minnie-hologram said passionately. "Earth is the domain you have given to my husband, Lord Mickey, and I to rule over, so I was first to receive word of the bad news."

Walt was becoming impatient. "What's wrong?"

"The magic we gave Earth when Disneyland and Disney World opened has worn off," the Minnie-hologram said worriedly. "And my beloved Lord Mickey and I are currently using all of our mousekamagic to hold the borders of the planet. Without magic, they will wither and die!" Minnie's voice rose until her words came out as high-pitched squeaks, not that they hadn't already.

"What does this mean?" queried Walt.

"It means," the hologram said, "That Earth needs a big dose of fairy-tale magic!"

"And _that _means?" Walt asked.

"It means that we need to send in one of the princesses," said the hologram.

"What? No!" Walt shouted, clenching his hands into fists and controlling the urge to smash his glass podium and desk to shards. "The princesses," he said as calmly as he could make himself, "are currently using skills that will come of use to us when we go to war against the Pixars."

"You don't mean to say that you'll send young girls to the warfront?!" Minnie squeaked, horrified.

"What? Mulan's used to it," retorted Walt.

"That was a _movie!_" protested the Minnie-hologram.

"Still," Walt spat. "If we send the princesses to Earth, we'll have lost our biggest group of beings."

"King," the hologram persuaded, "the princesses are our most magical beings except the fairies- and they're off at the warfront. They're not coming back for another two months. By that time, Earth could be dead! And we'll only need to send one or two…"

"Minnie…"

"Please, Your Majesty, I don't want to lose my domain."

"Fine!" Walt threw up his hands in frustration. "Send… _Cinderella._"


	2. Chapter 1: Cinderella

Chapter One: Cinderella

"Name?" The bored receptionist looked up at me through thick black eyelashes.

"Cindy."

"Cindy _what_?"

"Cindy Charming." (Technically, in the book and movie I was married to Prince Charming.)

"Age?" she droned.

"Sixteen and a half," I told her.

"Driver's license?" she asked, and stifled a yawn.

I fished it out of my purse and handed it to her. She looked it over and then scrutinized me. Sure, with thick honey-blond hair pulled up into a ponytail, sparkling blue eyes behind thick black nerd glasses, and a pretty and limp blue dress over black leggings and boots, I looked normal. But for a moment I was afraid she could see inside me, and knew I wasn't a typical high schooler.

Because, of course, animated-princesses-turned-real aren't exactly normal.

"Family?"

"My stepmother, Terri Charming, and my stepsisters, Stacy and Drizzie." I didn't mention that those were just their _Earth _names- my stepmother's real name was Tremaine, not Terri, and that Stacy was a nickname for Anastasia, or that Drizzie was a nickname for Drizella (her name was hard to disguise!).

Yes- my stepmother's Lady Tremaine, and my stepsisters are Anastasia and Drizella.

I'm Cinderella.

"Mmm hmm. Do you wish to take the Gifted test?" she mumbled.

"I already passed it back at my old school." I handed over a blank paper. Anyone who looked at it would immediately be bewitched into believing that I came from a super-gifted high school called Royal High. "It's a note from my old principal, Mr. Walter."

She scanned the paper and her pupils turned silver for a fraction of a second, the sign that the paper had worked- she was bewitched. I felt bad about having to use Fairy Godmother's magic to make someone believe a story that wasn't true in the least, but what was I supposed to tell her? I came from another planet by using a portal? I was really a storybook princess? Back home I had studied martial arts, trickery, and ways to kill a person _along with _my normal academics? No way. It was necessary, this trickery- who knew that a little lie could change the fate of an entire planet?

She handed the paper back to me and plastered a fake smile on her face. "All seems to be in order, Cindy. You've been entered into Buckborough High, and you're in the full-time Gifted program for grade eleven." Her voice was too artificial, too perky. "Your guardian should be given this note notifying her that you begin school on Monday. Here is your student ID." I shoved the folded blue post-it into my purse and slung the ID's string around my neck, tucking it into the neckline of my dress. "Show it to the guard outside of the school before you enter every morning, and the guard in front of the Gifted hallway. Only then will they let you in. Here is a map." I stifled a laugh- _They need guards here? What is this, a federal prison?_- and put the folded yellow paper next to the post-it and zipped up my purse as she said fakely, "Have fun, Ms. Charming!"

I smiled fakely back and exited, paying a cabbie to take me to where I now lived- a stylish apartment building on the outskirts of the city. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a small balcony. Drizzie and Stacy, as I kept reminding myself I had to call them now, had volunteered to share a room when we arrived and rented the apartment last night, so Mom (as I called my stepmother) and I got our own rooms.

Let me explain…

My name really is Cinderella, and I was animated just for the movie. Imagine Walt Disney and his animators' surprise when I hopped off the screen and became real! All those animated beings you see- Ariel, Shang, even Sneezy- are real actors. (We're younger than we are in the movies. I am actually almost 17; Stacy is almost 16, and Drizzie is almost 18.) The computers distort our frames and make us appear animated, but on Earth and the Planet Disney, we look as real as your parents look to you. (Unless you think your parents are aliens.) But since we were created from the movie, our family in the movie _is_ our real family, but no marriages are real- I mean, were Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson _really_ married in _The Parent Trap_, 1998 version? Nope- they just pretended. Same in animated movies.

Does that make sense?


	3. Chapter 1: Cinderella (cont)

Mom entered then and patted my back. "How's my favorite stepdaughter?"

"I'm your _only_ stepdaughter," I reminded her. "Did Stacy and Drizzie decide on their high schools?"

"Stacy's going to your school," Mom said, "but Drizzie chose Queenscrest High, not too far away from here."

"Why?" I cried out. "I get that she only has one more year- but all three of us could have been together!"

Mom shrugged. "Oh well. Stacy will be a sophomore at your school, and you two can ride the bus home together."

Just then, Stacy burst in, waving around her pink Student ID (freshmen had yellow, sophomores pink, juniors like me blue, and seniors got green). "Thanks to your Fairy Godmother's magic," she practically sang out, "guess who starts at Buckborough High on Monday as a sophomorrrrrrrrre!"

"Guess who starts at Buckborough High on Monday as a juniorrrrrrrrr!" I replied, drawing out 'r'.

"OMG!" she squealed, flipping her red fishtail braid over her shoulder. "I'm so happy!"

"Did you think that somehow Fairy Godmother's magic would _fail_ for me?" I scoffed. "Stacy, I'm disappointed!"

She laughed. "Need help making lunch?"

"Yeah," I said seriously. "I brought a set of my self-frozen meals from Planet Disney. Can you please reheat four of them while I holo-call Snow? I want to know what's gone on while we've been away."

"We've only been away for sixteen hours!" protested Stacy, but she went to the freezer and took out four small packages.

Mom waved me away. "You cooked them. Go holo-call your friends."

I slipped into my room- decorated prettily in shades of blue and silver- and unlocked the small silver box on my desk with the silver key on a thin silver chain around my neck. Out rolled the brass gear-ball used for holos. I lined up the gears to dial my best friend Snow White (who was actually 15 ½, Stacy's age).

_Ring!_

I already knew that I was going to join the 'nerd group' if the groups were separate at Buckborough.

_Ring!_

Would there be any cute guys in the nerd group? Technically, I _was _single! I loved technicalities.

_Ri-_

"Hi, Cindy!"

"Snow!" I exclaimed, hugging my friend's blue hologram. Right now, back in Snow's castle on Planet Disney, my blue hologram was giving Snow's real body the exact same hug. "How are you?"

"Great- you?"

"Got accepted into Buckborough! I start in three days."

"Awesome!"

"Any news from our friends?"

"OMG, yes!" she cried. "Want to know about every one of them?"

"Sure…"

"Okay, so," she began, "Aurora got Philip to faint by pretending to fall asleep again. I nearly died from laughter!"

I snorted. "That's Rora for you, always the trickster."

"Remember Ariel's concert?" Snow reminded me. "Well, it was last night about an hour after you left, and it was beautiful! I'll send you the recording as soon as I can. And Tiana made a new recipe called 'cinnamon applesauce pie', but Jasmine snuck into the kitchen while it was baking and ruined it with a bottle of hot sauce. Of course, none of us knew, and I can still feel the heat!"

I laughed. "Glad I missed _that_!"

"Rapunzel figured out how to regrow her hair, and now it's long and blond again, but now instead of healing, Rapunzel can move it around with just her mind! She created this gorgeous mural of all us princesses and replaced our portrait in the Hall of Disney," Snow listed. "Belle trained Chip to dance disco, and we've all been cracking up since his first concert. Elsa made a whole snow family for Olaf, and all Anna does now is play with the snowbabies. Pocahontas tried to teach Rapunzel to 'paint with the colors of the wind', but obviously, that didn't work, and instead Rapunzel's favorite painting- you know, the one with her watching the lanterns? It's now covered in leaves and Rapunzel is SOOOO mad at Pocahontas. And Mulan finally went off to fight. We're all so scared for her but she promised to come back by spring." Snow took a deep breath, and finished, "Whew!"

I giggled. "Snow, Snow, Snow, what will I ever do with you?"

We chattered on for hours.


	4. Chapter 1: Cinderella (cont) (cont)

I stood in front of Buckborough High School and breathed in deep. My first school day on Earth! I savored the moment and then turned to the burly, black-clad guard in front of the huge double doors. His flabby arms were crossed. "You're not a student here," he noted in a gruff voice.

"I am now." I showed him my ID tag. He compared the picture on it to my face and then broke into a huge, fat smile.

"You're the new student, Cindy!" he said as if I didn't know that already. "I'm Boris. Just go down that hallway and turn left then show your ID to the guard there and you'll be all set to go to your first class which is math! Okay?"

"Sounds good," I said, trying not to laugh. I followed his directions and found the math classroom, all decorated with numbers and symbols. The teacher, Mr. Reaper, put me in the very back behind a girl in all pink. Soon a pretty girl with auburn hair cut much like my friend Snow's and turquoise eyes behind black nerd glasses like mine came in and sat in the seat next to me.

"Hi, I'm Cindy," I introduced myself. "I'm new here."

"Oh. Hi, I'm Brielle. This is Algebra II. If you need any help getting around, you can just ask me. What's your schedule?"

We compared schedules, and it turned out I had first, second, fourth and sixth period with her (math, science, French and language arts). She had a whole group of friends whom I met after first period- Casey and Andrew Blythe, redheaded twins (Casey being the girl); her best friend, Kate Coffey, a stick-thin tall girl with wavy brown hair; and Jake Donatello, a 5'8" boy with dirty blond hair whom I had an instant crush on. All wore nerd glasses, but only Casey's and Brielle's were real.

It was fun hanging out with a group of people who didn't know anything about who I was. It was nice to be with people my own age (although technically, I'd never age), just having fun, with no one bowing down to me and doing everything I asked. I'd always hated being a royal. Even being a servant would have been better, in my opinion. It was just so terrible seeing people scraping their noses on the floor every day when you pass by, having them fetch you anything you want (I'd once asked for a unicorn when I was younger and inexperienced, and gotten it) and just being so lofty that you feel like you'll never touch ground again.

Pretty sure that made no sense, but I'll go with it anyway.

That night, after hanging out with Brielle, the twins and Jake at a froyo shop (Kate had to go home to take care of her younger sister), I arrived home. There was a note on the counter: _Cindy, we went out to eat at the Chinese place a few blocks away. Have anything you want. –Stepmom_

Then, in a different handwriting, it said: **Cindy, you missed a holo-call from Anna. It was on Elsa's number, but I think it was Anna trying to reach you. Maybe something's wrong? Call her back! –Stacy**

Something was wrong? While a microwaveable meal rotated in the microwave, I found my gear-ball. Sure enough, I had two new messages, both from Elsa's number. One was whispered. That was from Anna.

"Oh, Cindy, Cindy, this is not good. When you get this, you need to call immediately. Not my number, this number, because I lost my gear-ball. Call back, please, please, please!"

When the hologram flickered out, I frowned, thinking, _Something's wrong. _What's _wrong?_

The microwave beeped. I ignored it and got the second message playing. It was Elsa, hunched over with wide eyes.

"Cindy, this is really bad. You need to call soon. Why aren't you picking up? _Argh_!" Then there was a splintering sound and the message flickered out.

I tried calling Elsa's number, but all I got was a member of the Council. "Hello, how may I help you?"

"This is Cinderella," I began. "I'm trying to get through to Elsa."

"Oh. Right away, your Highness. Her gear-ball has been smashed, but I suggest calling Princess Aurora instead due to the fact that she is in a meeting with Princess Anna and Queen Elsa."

I thanked her, hung up, and dialed 1-P-A-U-R-O-R-A. (King Disney's was 1-K-D-I-S-N-E-Y, and mine was 1-P-C-I-N-D-E-R-E-L-L-A. Do you understand, kind of, how numbers are made?) Aurora's hologram flickered to life.

"Rora!"

"Cindy! To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Do you have Anna and Elsa with you?"

"I do indeed. Give me a second."

A few twists of the gears on Aurora's part and her holo-call expanded to include everyone in the room. Sure enough, soon Anna's hologram was giving me a big fat hug.

"Oh, Cindy, we're so glad you're safe!"

"Why wouldn't I be safe?" I asked, confused.

"We heard- we heard this awful rumor-" Anna glanced helplessly at her sister, who took over.

"We heard that Lady Minnie was sending in another princess. We just assumed that it was because you were too- indisposed- to continue with your job."

"What princess?" I asked.

"I don't know," Anna said.

Just then, another person came into the room. I could tell because I saw another hologram flicker to life. It was Jasmine.

"Jazzy!" I laughed. "How good to see you!" We hugged briefly, but then Jasmine turned to the other princesses and Queen.

"I know why Lady Minnie sent in the extra princess."

"Why?" Anna asked. "Obviously, it's not because Cindy's hurt…"

"No, it's not. That's right. But Cindy's magic has worn off already. Not completely, really, but there was one big dose when she went into the mortal world, and now it's almost nineteen-twentieths gone."

"What?" I gasped.

"I know! So she sent in someone else. I can't figure out who it is. Belle, Rapunzel, Pocahontas and Ariel aren't picking up, so I know it's one of them. I just don't know who."

"I'll ask around," said Aurora, getting up and exiting the room. Her hologram flickered and died.

"Just holo-call Lady Minnie," I suggested to Jasmine.

"She's not picking up either."

"Oh well," Anna said. "I just hope it's not Ariel or Rapunzel. They're such fun to play with!"

I laughed and hung up on the holo-call, then flopped on my bed, wondering which princess I would see around town.


	5. Chapter 2: Walt

I sat in my plush chair, watching my magicputer. It showed exactly one dose of magic: the one from when Cinderella had entered Earth's domain. Already the magic had almost worn off, and Earth wasn't even close to being saved.

_Bing! _A dmail. I checked my account and sighed. Lady Minnie just did not give up, did she?

_King Disney:_

_I was mistaken. We need to send in more than one princess! Perhaps Ariel? Or maybe Belle, or Rapunzel even, could get the job done between them. Don't worry, though- I won't take Mulan from the warfront. She isn't that magical anyway. _

_Hopefully waiting,_

_Lady Minnie _°o°

I typed out a reply, already exasperated.

_Lady Minnie:_

_You do not give up, do you? I refuse to send more than one princess into the world. At all. Perhaps we could send in a few companion animals. Pascal and a few of the mice could finish the job. I was okay with sending Cinderella because she wasn't doing too well in any of the classes that could have really helped her in the warfront. We'll have to leave it and hope for the best. If in a week she hasn't figured out how to add more magic, we can send a mouse or two._

_King Disney_ °o°

_P.S. No offense about the mouse comment._

About ten minutes later, a Policemouse barreled into my office. I quickly took my feet off the desk and sat up straighter. "Yes?"

"King Disney!" he panted, kneeling and making the Disney salute. "There has been a break-in at one of the Portal storage houses!"

"The Portal storage houses?" I gasped. "Oh no! Come. We'll use my King Pass on the dTrain."

We hopped the dTrain bound for the Storage District, and all the time I pressed the Policemouse for information. _How did the intruder get past the guards? _We're not sure, sir, they're questioning the guards now. _Did the intruder show up on the cameras? _Not that we know, sir, but other Policemice are screening the tape as we speak. _Did the intruder use a Portal? _One in the very back, sir, was still warm, sir, so we're guessing that the intruder used that one, sir. _Can you track the location that the Portal was set to? _No, sir, we can't, sir, because the intruder wiped all the data from the Portal, sir, we're very sorry.

When we arrived, I didn't worry about seeming regal. After all, I was a King with a crisis to deal with. I hopped the tape, flashed my ID badge, and ran to the back corner of the storage house. A still-warm Portal was being hauled away by two Policemice, and just as I sprinted over to them, a shout went up from outside. "King Disney, we've discovered who it was!"

I sped outside and over to the makeshift magicputer stations that had been hastily set up next to the Portal storage house. "Yes? Who was it?"

"A mouse in a black dress- it looks vaguely like Lady Minnie. You see?" The Policemouse in question pointed to a pretty mouse in a black dress wearing a red bow on her head. Accompanying her was a girl, tall, lithe, with her head covered in a black covering. She was carrying a backpack and a bag. She said thanks to Lady Minnie and stepped through the Portal. Then the tape cut out.

"Could you tell who the girl is?" I asked the Policemice. They all shook their heads, giving assorted excuses.

"All right. Well, I'm off to question Lady Minnie. If it is her, I'll punish her on my own. If it's not, I'll dText your sheriff and tell him to get on the case."

As I left, I clenched my fists. She really did not give up.

Minnie had sent in another princess.


	6. Chapter 2: Walt (cont)

I caught a dHover and flew to Lady Minnie's summer vacation home, covered in lush flowers and plants. Just inside the hallway, I found six of their 7 children playing roughly on the carpet. Two, twin females Millie and MacKenzie, spotted me and threw their little aprons over their heads, giggling. The oldest, Mikayla, was trying to keep the twin boys Manuel and Matthew under control, but the youngest besides the baby, Millie and MacKenzie- Michael was his name, or Mikey- toddled up to me and pulled on my trouser leg. "Unka Dizzy!"

All play stopped as all five little mice crowded around me, tugging on my trousers and hands and chanting, "Unka Dizzy, Unka Dizzy!"

Mikayla smiled at me. "They're a handful."

"I can tell," I laughed. "Can you bring me to your mother? I have very important business with her concerning a break-in."

Mikayla curtsied. "Of course, Your Majesty. She's in the kitchen. It's time for their nap. Would you please help me get them all to bed before you go talk with Mother?"

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "but this business is royally urgent."

Her face fell. "Oh, of course, Your Majesty. Come, Manuel. Matthew, don't pull his trousers off! Millie, MacKenzie, can you two get Mikey? It's naptime!"

She herded them off and I navigated to the pristine white kitchen with black and red accents. Minnie was facing away from me, ladling pancake batter onto a black nonstick grill pan. I crept up behind her, seized her petite mouse shoulders, and growled, "Who was it?"

She shrieked, twisting around. The ladle in her hand hit the bowl of pancake batter, which flew into the air. Roughly a third of the batter flew free, and when I jumped up to catch the bowl, the loose batter splashed all over my expensive suit, imported from Earth when I first created Planet Disney. The rest of the batter was safely caught in the bowl, which I returned to Minnie.

"Oh dear, oh dear," she fretted. "That expensive suit."

"It will be fine," I snapped, wiping a glob of batter out of my hair. "Just tell me who you sent."

She wrung her hands, moving over to the other side of the counter as if she was afraid I'd hit her once I knew. "Oh dear, do I really have to-"

"Stop stalling and just _tell_ me!" I growled.

She sighed in defeat and plopped down on one of the chairs. "I sent Rapunzel."


	7. Chapter 3: Rapunzel

**Chapter Three: Rapunzel**

I grasped the straps of my backpack and grinned at the world. I had persuaded Lady Minnie to let me go in place of Snow White. _She's only fifteen and a half. She can't even drive yet! _I'd argued. _Plus, I'm of legal age in the modern world- I'm eighteen! I can live by myself there. If I stayed at Cindy's, King Disney's men would know where to find me and they'd ruin your plan for sure!_

Finally, she'd relented and we cooked up a plan for me. My name was Rapunzel Rider- apparently Rapunzel was a real name on Earth, and a pretty popular one too. I was one of the artsy types- no need for pretending there- and I was here on an art scholarship. Aurora's fairy Flora helped me with the magic part.

I stood with the papers for Apartment 4B in Cindy's building, the papers necessary to enter Buckborough High School, and lots of clothes and brushes. My hair wasn't quite as long as it was before, but at least it didn't trail everywhere. I kept it in one big fat braid that traveled all the way down my back and stopped at my ankles, and of course I'd woven purple ribbons into it. I wore my favorite outfit- a white button-down with no sleeves and a ruffled skirt with three almost-sheer pink layers, and a pair of white flats. Once I'd left Planet Disney I took the head covering off, stuffed it in my pack, and let loose my braid.

I got to the apartment at about the same time Cindy was leaving school. I got my apartment set up and half an hour before the school office was scheduled to close I took the train there. How weird it was not to be riding a dTrain, where the seats were covered in Mickey symbols and the inside was a glossy white and the outside was shining black, where the windows weren't tinted and could roll down, where they ran above ground instead of underground. I found the same bored receptionist Cindy had found and enrolled myself in Buckborough, to start the next day.

That night I went to visit Cindy. At about nine I left my room, traveled up a flight of stairs, and found apartment 5D. I rang the bell.

Drizella opened the door. Her jaw dropped. "Punzie?"

"Drizzie!" I hugged her. "Hi!"

"But you were- but- but-" she protested wildly.

"I came too. Don't ask questions. Um, can I talk to Cindy?"

"Yeah, she's in her bedroom," Drizzie answered, "but why are you here?"

"Lady Minnie's orders," I told her, then found Cindy's door and knocked.

"Who is it?"

"A special visitor," I said mysteriously.

"Ooh! Pizza?"

The door swung open so fast I had to take a step back. Cindy in all her blue-clothed glory stood in the doorway. Her mouth fell open. "Punzie?"

"In the flesh."

"But how- why-"

"I came too."

She gasped. "She sent _you!_ Anna was _positive _that she'd sent Pocahontas."

"Anna knew?"

"They just heard a rumor, but-"

"Rumors are based off of truth," we chorused, and then laughed. It was the favorite saying of our teacher, Mr. Milo Thatch.

"Um- I'm not really supposed to be here," I began.

"I know," Cindy said. "We can hide you in here if you want-"

"It's okay," I assured her. "I'm eighteen and I got my own place."

"What floor?"

"Four. Apartment 4D. Just don't tell-"

"King Disney? Of course not!" laughed Cindy. "I know he's the king and all, but Planet Disney is much better off than Earth is, and we belong here. We really do."

"The kids love us," I told her. "I passed seven Disney-princess shirts on the way here!"

"I know, Punzie- we're on the same side. You don't have to convince me of _that_!"

We laughed and talked for a few more minutes before I said, "You know what? I'm tired. I'm gonna go back to my apartment for some sleep- since for me, school starts tomorrow."

"Good idea. Bye, Punzie!"

"Bye, Cindy!"

I went back to my apartment and collapsed on my bed, ready for tomorrow and already exhausted. But before I could go to sleep, I fetched my brush and began to brush my hair and sing the song that Lady Minnie had made me promise to sing every night just so more magic would come into the world:

_"Flower, gleam and glow. Let your power shine. Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt. Change the Fates' design. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine… what once was mine…"_

Then I drifted off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 3: Rapunzel (cont)

_Knock knock knock!_

"Punzie? There's half an hour until school starts. Are you awake?"

"Huh? Yeah," I slurred, sitting up in bed. "Uh… I've been up… for hours." I yawned.

"Don't try that on me. Anna says that every morning and I know I just woke her up. Do you need help with your hair?"

"Huh? Yes," I said. "Give me five minutes to get dressed. Is there a school dress code?"

"No."

I dressed in a purple blouse with puffed sleeves- it was not unlike the top half of my dress from the movie- and brown capri pants. Cindy came in and helped me comb my hair over to one side and braid it- it went just past my waist. I slung a golden necklace around my neck and Cindy, blessed girl that she is, found a yellow Asiatic Lily and tucked it behind my ear. We finished off my look with strappy brown sandals that twisted up just past my ankles and a small brown messenger bag packed with everything I'd need for school.

We caught a train- again, I shuddered at the looks of it- to Buckborough and I parted with Cindy because I, being eighteen, was a senior and she was a junior. I found the senior hall, showed my green ID tag to the guard, and figured out which class was English. When I went in, there was a grinning lady and a bunch of students in there. The lady spotted me and came right over.

"Hi, I'm Miss Delaney," she said, shaking my hand. She was young; maybe twenty-five? "You must be the new student, Rapunzel."

"I am," I told her.

"That's such a lovely name. Oh, you like art?" This because she had seen the paint splatters on my bag and the paintbrush sticking out of it. "I originally had you sitting by Lux-" she gestured to a Goth girl with black hair and fake tattoos- "but now I think I might put you with Angelica." She pointed to an empty seat next to a girl wearing paint-splattered overalls- _overalls?_- and a white long-sleeved shirt. She had red hair and pulled off the painter/farmer look like no one I had ever seen.

I sat down next to Angelica and pulled out my English textbook. A girl on the other side of Angelica gasped and grabbed for the flower in my hair. "Oh my gosh, an Asiatic Lily!" she squealed.

"Quiet down, Dominique," Angelica said, pushing Dominique back. To me, she whispered, "She's a garden girl."

"I can tell," I laughed.

"I'm Angelica, but you can call me Angie. What's your name?"

"Rapunzel, but you can call me Punzie if it suits you."

"Oh, cool. Welcome. You're an art geek too?"

"Of course!" I told her enthusiastically. "I paint a _ton._"

"Then I'm guessing you take art as your elective?"

"Heck yeah," I said, giggling. "What class do you have it?"

"Fifth," she answered.

"Great, me too!"

We compared our schedules. We only had those two classes together, but Angie pointed out that my schedule was almost identical to her friend Halle Gray's, only I had English first and science third, while she had science first and English third.

Halle, whom I met after class, was really nice. She had paintbrushes in her brown hair and the widest grin I'd ever seen.

Two nights after, Halle invited me to a sleepover. She was turning 18 that very day and her parents were going to spend the night at a hotel so Halle and her friends could have the "whole house", as Halle put it. I gladly accepted, then asked if I could invite a junior.

"Sure, who?"

"Cindy Charming. She's my... uh... cousin."

"Than you want to invite a sophomore too," Halle laughed.

"Oh, you mean An- er, Stacy? She's already going to a party," I lied.

"But Cindy's not?"

"It was very exclusive. All sophomores."

"Cool! Tell Cindy about the party- 93935 Elm Street. Be there at 6 tonight! See you there!"

"See you there."


End file.
